Back to the Index

Episode 6: Complications

Deckett had planned for Gessy to be out in the forest for the whole night. That wasn't completely unheard of for them. But she had traveled far afield from where she was supposed to be.

"Is he searching for you?" Betty asked when she saw the worried look on Gessy's face.

"Probably," she answered. She made some adjustments on the camera. "Would you take my picture? To show him I'm okay?"

"Um, sure." She slung the strap and started looking in the view finder. Valerie returned from the back of the cave, their latrine, and stopped.

"Looks like you're aiming a bazooka," she told her friend.

"Yeah," Betty said absently. "Gessy, these controls look human-made." She shook her head. "I mean, they look like Earthlings made them."

"Probably." Gessy agreed, standing near the cave front for the light. "Celste said they learned a lot from Earthlings. But Deckett said it's not a weapon, so the Earthlings wouldn't have made them torture the information out of them."

The Earthlings shared a skeptical look but kept silent. Betty took and transmitted the picture.

"Thanks," the teen said, taking back the device. "Deckett'll see that I'm okay, and figure I'm with you guys."

"But you didn't take a picture of us," Valerie pointed out. "How will he know?"

"Duh," Gessy said, rolling her eyes. "Who took the picture?"

-----

They had walked through the forest for about an hour when Gessy stopped. "Wow," she said. "Never seen this on this continent." She unlimbered the camera and started taking several shots of a plant.

"This is bad," she muttered, "very bad."

It seemed less than startling to Betty or Valerie. It was nothing they'd seen in the forest before but it wasn't colorful, frightening or impressive.

It was a weed, lots of pods growing on looping curls. Small, sharp leaves grew in bunches, pointing out of the loops like arrows out of a quiver.

Betty spent the delay looking around, watching for any giants to step out from behind trees. Valerie watched the domestic.

"You know," she whispered, "for someone that can be such an airhead, she really knows what she's doing."

"Uh-huh," Betty said shortly.

"What?"

"She's really good with stolen Earth technology," Betty muttered. "Put that on her resume."

"She doesn't know any better!" Val snapped.

"That doesn't MAKE it any better!" Betty snapped back.

"RUN!" Gessy hissed. The two women twisted around to see the girl disappear into the bushes. That's when they noticed the footsteps. A giant was approaching.

As one they turned and ran under the closest plant. It was the one Gessy had been filming. Crouched under the leaf bunches, they watched a pair of work boots get closer and closer through the underbrush. It was hard to gage with the size of giant steps, but they seemed to slow down as they approached.

The giant's voice muttered, "She should be...right about..." Then they stopped. "Here." There was a click above then Gessy's camera started beeping.

"Come out," Deckett ordered, kneeling beside the fern. Gessy ran out. But where Valerie expected her to be smiling at her reunion with her owner, she was crying.

"It's horrible!" she cried. Then she pointed at the strange plant. "It's a fire-brush!"

"Did you touch it?" he asked urgently.

"No. But Valerie and Betty are UNDER it!"

"Oh, no," he said. The boots twisted in their direction.

"Well, crap," Betty sighed.

"Valerie," the giant called. "I would like you and...your friend-"

"Betty," Gessy said. She wrung her hands and watched.

"Betty, right. Please come out from under the plant, be very careful not to brush any part of it."

Valerie shrugged and walked out. Betty was a bit slower, not having really spent any time getting to know Deckett. They ducked under the foliage and walked out into the clear.

Deckett looked down with a very worried frown. He was rolling up a pant leg as he spoke to them.

"That's a fire-brush. It can cause a painful rash. But what's really bad about it are the mites that live on it. If they drop onto a person, or brush off onto them - DON'T MOVE!"

The two Earthlings froze in position. Gessy noticed that Betty's hand was halfway up to her hair.

"Don't move," he repeated. "If you scratch where the mites are, that drives them down into your skin." He gestured towards his shin. A large circle of scar tissue welled up in the middle.

"That's from brushing by a fire-brush, through a pant leg, and I got medical attention inside of an hour."

"Wow," Valerie whispered. All three human's skin together wouldn't cover that area, Gessy knew. If the women were infested, they could die. She hoped that her giant could save them.



Back to the Index